


the north sea sings

by nykteris



Series: a study in romances [3]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-26
Updated: 2016-05-26
Packaged: 2018-07-10 07:21:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6972646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nykteris/pseuds/nykteris
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wonwoo thinks maybe the distance between the two of them isn’t such a bad thing after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the north sea sings

**Author's Note:**

> i've recently gotten into seventeen and i absolutely adore wonwoo and mingyu; my friend was right when she said they're a package deal. that being said, this is my first time ever writing for svt/meanie so i hope i do/did alright! i intended for this to go down a much different, uh, path but i somehow wound up with whatever this is now.
> 
> title is from 'stand on the horizon' by franz ferdinand, chosen simply because i really like this particular phrase/line, and there's something kinda poignant about it.

Mingyu is the boy next door.

Wonwoo is the boy who lives three houses away from the aforementioned boy next door.

They’ve known each other for what seems like an eternity to Wonwoo. When he and his family moved to this neighborhood when he was ten-years-old, the Kims were the first to befriend the Jeon family and Mingyu had taken Wonwoo under his wing. Since then, Mingyu had become a pillar of familiarity and stability for Wonwoo who even after all these years still feels a little out of place.

  
  
  


*

  
  


They couldn’t be any more different, though Wonwoo supposes that’s why they go so well together.

Wonwoo had always been shy, preferring to keep to himself than to actively engage in things that involved way too much socialising. It’s not that he’s anti-social; he just isn’t particularly great at it most times. Most times, people misinterpreted his shyness for coldness and aloofness. Wonwoo didn’t really mind what they thought, figured they were harmless. Mingyu always knew how to bring out his perkier side and Wonwoo usually reserved it just for him.

MIngyu, on the other hand, had always been a social butterfly, loved by everyone for his good looks and amiable personality. In a lot of ways, he was pretty much the embodiment of Prince Charming. Every year on Valentine’s Day, he would be bombarded with chocolates and love letters, all of which he accepted with a shy smile that only seemed to make people love him even more. Mingyu would share the chocolates with Wonwoo when they walked home together.

  
  
  


*

  
  
  


(“You never give anyone anything on Valentine’s day,” Wonwoo comments, unwrapping the piece of Godiva chocolate Mingyu had given him.

Mingyu shrugs, chewing on chocolate. “There’s no one I want to give anything to, honestly.”

“That’s impossible.”

“No, it isn’t! I’m just really not interested in anyone right now, I guess.”

Wonwoo snickers. “Right now or ever, you mean.”

“Whatever, man,” Mingyu retorts with the roll of his eyes. His lips curl into a smile and he nudges Wonwoo’s elbow with his. “Besides, who needs anyone else when we’ve got this, just you and me.”

Wonwoo busies himself with unwrapping another piece of chocolate but a smile spreads across his own face.)

  
  
  


*

  
  
  


Graduation is just around the corner, but first: prom.

The months that lead to it are a mess of prom proposals and budget planning on the part of the prom committee. Nayoung looks like she’s about to self-combust any second now and only Jieqiong can do anything to stop such a thing from happening.

Wonwoo asks Yebin to be his date and Mingyu asks Minkyung to be his, though both of them know that come prom day, they’ll be left to their own musings while their dates go off and chatter with their other friends. True enough, it does happen: a few dances are thrown in here and there, a couple of pictures are taken, but soon Minkyung and Yebin leave them to talk to Siyeon and Co. and they’re left standing where the bowl of punch is. They don’t mind.

“Seungcheol is throwing an afterparty at his place,” Hansol tells them later, eyes dancing. “Are you guys coming?”

Mingyu and Wonwoo simultaneously turn to look at each other and then at Hansol. They both tower over him. “Nah,” Mingyu says. “I think we’ll pass.”

Hansol looks disappointed but he replies, “Alright, suit yourselves then.”

Prom comes to a close with Mingyu being crowned Prom King with Jieqiong as Prom Queen, they share a dance and everyone leaves to either go home or to Seungcheol’s afterparty. Mingyu and Wonwoo drive to a convenience store and purchase some chips, beer and hard liquor, keeping their faces as stoic as possible when the cashier lady eyes them suspiciously. They manage to get away with it again this time though and they drive to an elevated part of the city that overlooks the sea.

“We can have our own afterparty,” Mingyu tells Wonwoo, handing him a bottle of beer. Wonwoo takes it and they clink their bottle together. Mingyu smiles at Wonwoo and his eyes are bright, so bright, even when the night is as dark and as thick as black treacle.

Later on, they pass out in the car, slumped against each other.

  
  
  


*

  
  
  


(Wonwoo is surprised when Jieqiong walks up to him after dismissal, cornering him in front of his locker, and says, “Mingyu and I aren’t a thing.”

It’s funny how a girl that’s almost a whole head shorter than Wonwoo can make _him_ feel small under her gaze. “Uh,” Wonwoo replies dumbly, “That’s...great, I suppose. But why are you telling me this?”

Jieqiong’s expression stays even. “Eunwoo and Yebin told me about how worked-up you’ve been about the rumor going around that Mingyu and I are dating, so I figured you should hear the real thing from me.”

“You seriously came here to tell me all of this?”

Jieqiong nods. “Now I’ll ask you this: why does it bother you so much?”

Wonwoo bites down on his tongue, heart slowly and painfully thumping in his chest. Jieqiong’s eyes are still on him, sharp and searching, until he catches them soften around the edges as her realization sinks in and she gasps softly. “Oh, Wonwoo. For how long?”

“For almost as long as I’ve known him,” Wonwoo mumbles. He wrings his wrist.

“Will you ever tell him?”

Wonwoo lets his shoulders rise and fall in a small shrug. “I don’t know.”

Jieqiong takes his hands in hers -- her hands are so small compared to his -- and gives them a reassuring squeeze. Wonwoo smiles at her lopsidedly.)

  
  
  


*

  
  
  


They wrap up all of their final exams, get through graduation rehearsals and before they know it they’ve got their diplomas in their hands and they’re throwing their mortarboards in the air, kinda like how they’ve seen it done in the movies.

Mrs. Kim and Mrs. Jeon take pictures of Mingyu and Wonwoo, proud of their sons. Mingyu keeps his arm slung across Wonwoo’s shoulders as they walk over to their other friends and Wonwoo catches Jieqiong throw him a curious glance from where she’s standing and she smiles at him kindly. He returns the smile.

Before they part ways to have separate graduation celebrations with their families, Mingyu says to Wonwoo, “Meet me at the same place we went to after prom, the one that overlooks the sea, later.”

Wonwoo nods and watches Mingyu walk away, lips still set to a bright smile.

  
  
  


*

  
  
  


(Mingyu’s words ring in Wonwoo’s ears -- _I got accepted to that university I’ve always dreamed of going to, the one two cities away. You remember that one, right?_

Of course Wonwoo remembers. He could never just forget, not when he spent the entire night after Mingyu first told him about it mulling over it, over the fact that they would finally have to be apart. Mingyu said that they could always visit each other, but Wonwoo knew that Mingyu’s idea was easier said than done.

Now Wonwoo had to watch his fears slowly become a reality. His conversation with Jieqiong from a while back comes into mind, which makes him think further back to when Mingyu and Jieqiong had been spending so much time together that everyone thought they were a couple. Wonwoo thought so as well, noting the twinkle in Mingyu’s eyes whenever he was with Jieqiong; he feels remnants of the sting in his heart until now.

“Are you okay?” Mingyu asks him, brows furrowed in concern.

Wonwoo manages a weak smile. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be? I guess it’s just the lack of sleep.”

“There you are again with your lack of sleep,” Mingyu says with a shake of his head. Jokingly, he asks, “How will you manage without me?

Wonwoo laughs softly, looking down at his hands. Then he looks up at Mingyu and retorts, “How will _you_ manage without me to help you with math, though?”

Mingyu scoffs. “Touché.”)

  
  
  


*

  
  
  


Wonwoo parks his car right behind Mingyu’s. Mingyu throws a glance at Wonwoo over his shoulder as he leans against the side of his car, hands shoved in the pockets of his slacks. He’s still wearing the button-up shirt and tie from earlier, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and the tie loosened.

Mingyu pulls out a bottle of soju and two shot glasses from inside his car when Wonwoo approaches him. He grins at Wonwoo and Wonwoo snickers.

“How’d you get your hands on that?” Wonwoo asks.

“Does it really matter?” Mingyu hands Wonwoo one of the shot glasses and pops open the bottle of soju. He pours enough in both of their shot glasses and raises his up. “To graduation.”

Wonwoo smiles, lifting his shot glass up too. “To graduation.”

They drink down the soju in one gulp. Neither of them speak; they keep their eyes glued to the sea, empty shot glasses placed on the roof of Mingyu’s car. A cool breeze passes by them, whistling softly in their ears. Wonwoo imagines that it carries with it a story from a different part of the world and maybe even from a different point in time, like what he had read somewhere before. Mingyu looks over at him and says, “I know. I’ve always known -- sort of.”

Wonwoo doesn’t say anything.

“I know, and I’m sorry, Wonwoo. I’m sorry I can’t love you that way.”

Wonwoo reaches for the bottle of soju behind him and takes a sip straight from the bottle; he had never been fond of soju, not really, but he welcomes the feeling of the warmth that starts in his throat and spreads through his chest when he drinks it. “You have nothing to apologize for,” he says to Mingyu. He smiles lopsidedly. “No matter what you feel -- or don’t feel, in this case -- you’ll always have me.”

“And _you’ll_ always have _me_ ,” Mingyu replies softly. “Nothing will ever change about that.”

Wonwoo leaves shortly after. Mingyu pulls him into a quick hug and watches him walk to his car, waving goodbye as Wonwoo backs up his car and drives away. From the rear-view mirror, Wonwoo watches Mingyu slowly disappear from view. His throat still feels thick but at the same time he feels a little liberated, like the weights shackled onto his heart are slowly being released and removed.

Wonwoo thinks maybe the distance between the two of them isn’t such a bad thing after all.

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are lovely and greatly appreciated!


End file.
